Side Effects May Vary
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4.0 • 78 Ratings
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
The first book from Julie Murphy, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dumplin'—now a Netflix feature film starring Danielle Macdonald and Jennifer Aniston, with a soundtrack by Dolly Parton!
For fans of John Green and Rainbow Rowell comes this powerful novel about a girl with cancer who creates a take-no-prisoners bucket list that sets off a war at school—only to discover she's gone into remission.
When sixteen-year-old Alice is diagnosed with leukemia, she vows to spend her final months righting wrongs. So she convinces her best friend, Harvey, to help her with a crazy bucket list that's as much about revenge as it is about hope.
But just when Alice's scores are settled, she goes into remission, and now she must face the consequences of all she's said and done.
Contemporary realistic fiction readers who love romantic stories featuring strong heroines will find much to savor in this standout debut.
What happens when your second chance at life means facing the person you became when you thought you were dying?
Best Friends to Lovers: She needs his help with her list. He’s just trying not to admit he’s been in love with her his whole life.Dual POV: Told from the perspectives of both Alice and Harvey, this story shows both sides of their messy, complicated, and unforgettable year.Dual Timeline: Alternating between the ‘Then’ of Alice’s diagnosis and the ‘Now’ of her remission, the full story of their fallout comes to light.A Messy Bucket List: This isn’t about skydiving. Alice’s list is about payback, settling scores, and dealing with the fallout when you unexpectedly have to live with your choices.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
An embittered 17-year-old cancer patient and her lovelorn childhood best friend alternate narration in Murphy's grim debut. Harvey and Alice grew up together and were close until high school, when Alice quit dancing at Harvey's mother's ballet studio and started dating a popular athlete. After Alice is diagnosed with leukemia and begins treatment, she turns to Harvey for support and assistance with her short and surprisingly negative bucket list. When the cancer inexplicably goes into remission, Alice has to start thinking of her life in the long-term again. Though the story jumps around between Alice's initial diagnosis/treatment and her remission one year later, the characters and their problems are virtually indistinguishable in both time periods, making it tricky to keep the storylines straight. Alice's anger is believable and a welcome change from portraits of cancer victims as saints, though her treatment of other people, including Harvey, can still be distancing. Harvey is a sympathetic narrator, though, and it's a relief when he and Alice get a hopeful ending after a slow, dark story. Ages 14 up.
Customer Reviews
Ups and Downs
You get infatuated in this book when it’s towards the end, at least for me. Not because you’re happy to be done with it but because when you realize that the characters have more depth than you think, you start to enjoy it. This book makes you pay more attention to the events around you and the feelings of others. It makes you think about all of your actions and the consequences to them. Yes, this book is amazing but I took away one star because it takes that long for you to really enjoy it. You’re not swooped in on the first chapter but rather slowly gliding in on the last one hundred pages.
one of my favorites
I loved this book so so much! It really captures the beauty of the friendship while it still has it’s downs to it. It was a beautiful book, I cried.
Wow
This book is a twisted and unrealistic love story, a breath of fresh air from the fantasy love story in books nowadays